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I really haven’t agonized over gifts this badly for a long time. A little bit of background – DH and I have just established this fragile new spending arrangement. I was afraid that if I bought presents for my nieces, when he’d already decided we couldn’t afford to spend money for him to send gifts to HIS nieces, well, our wonderful new fragile “let’s really be partners in this” might be set back a bit. So I used some gift money I got from Mom and Dad to actually buy the gifts. And I told DH that’s what I was going to use the money for, so that there was no mistake where it came from. He grumbled that it was my gift money and my call but he’d use his gift money for other stuff. And that’s fine. Then I called my brother to see what sorts of gifts they’d want. And as some of you will recall, I’m only recently reestablishing a relationship with my brother after 20 years of barely speaking to him. We didn’t have a fallout, we just weren’t real close. So I very much wanted to “play ball” and be the cooperative family member. He told me they’d enjoy the books, but they’d love gift cards to Target. Oy! That’s exactly the kind of gift I did NOT want to give – impersonal, temporary, and going towards who-knows-what which maybe would benefit them (I would have been OK with music and the like) but maybe would have been blown on the 5lb bag of M&Ms for all I know. So I agonized over that awhile too. Finally decided that nope, if Auntie Kath is going to give gifts, she’s going to give Auntie-Kath-type gifts. Right about then was when the news broke that Target credit and debit card user info had been stolen, so I felt very much justified in my decision. Had it happened with Amazon.com (and let’s face it, it could have), well, I’d still prefer books over cheap plastic crap from Target.

Take my ds, we were recently discussing favorite gifts from “others”. Ds surprised me tremendously. He said his all time favorite gift from his Aunt was kitchen gadgets for his first apartment. She spent very little, because her budget was tight. He said that it was his favorite gift wasn’t so much what she gave, but that she thought of what he might need and took the time to make the gift personal—She spent less than $10, but she included a note stating why she had chosen the few items she had got and how she used similar ones in her own kitchen.

We think we’re adaptable, but sometimes, we really do need what we’re familiar with and what makes us most comfortable. You’re allowed to be homesick. As for menopause, look, I think that’s all what you make of it. Whatever. If you want to have an off week, have one. People are irritating. Dogs are stupid at times, are so are a lot of people. . Sometimes we just don’t want to deal with it all, but most of the times, we’re polite, and are accomodating. Don’t. Do what makes you feel good, and start all over in a couple of days. Works for me, especially I know everyone is working on my nerves, and those who know you best will just side step your mood for right now, and will completely forget abou it by next week, after you have a chance to readjust. You know, you don’t always have to be everything for everyone. Sometimes it is all about you. Right now, it needs to just be all about Althea. Sometimes we just give too much, and we snap. It sounds like you’re there. In a couple of days, life will look a lot different after you decide to take care of yourself and forget about everyone else’s problems. I promise..

In fact, I think it may cause her even MORE problems. Ok, she would have protections if she was deployed(which I assume to be overseas) that they couldn’t release her when she comes back. But that doesn’t affect her status *before* a deployment. If I were an employer who was considering letting her go(because of performance, integrity issues, whatever), I’d be more inclined to let her go as soon as I found out about her joining. At that point, wouldn’t she still be considered an ‘at will’ employee? Seems that enlisting would force them into pulling the trigger a lot sooner than they might have…

whom we really like, but let’s just say this person is in her early 20’s and hasn’t experienced much of the world yet. She recently informed me that she’s going to join the Reserves. I was rather shocked, and asked why. Not that I have anything against a person deciding on military service – after all I was a Navy wife for six years. That loyalty runs deep. But something about this situation struck me as very odd. And it turns out her answer didn’t really make me feel any better. This young woman, who is afraid she’s going to lose her job soon, is under the impression that by joining the Reserves she’ll be immune from ever being fired, laid off, etc. And that’s why she’s joining. To make herself jobless-proof.

I came away from that conversation suspecting that there’s a kernel of truth in there, but there was probably more to it than that. If an employer hires someone in the Reserves, and/or a person joins the Reserves while employed, I understand that the employer must offer the person their job back after a deployment. But I suspect there are provisions in there that if the employee can’t hack the job, or if the company is downsizing in some way, there are ways the company can let go a person if they need to, even if that person is in the Reserves.

Does anyone know for sure? I like this young lady and I would hate to see her sign her name on that line of obligation, under some misunderstandings about what it will and will not do for her. Thanks all…………..

Kathryn Kerby, still a proud Navy wife even though DH#1 skipped out years ago

The thing that flagged this right away is that we’re not PG&E customers, but I used to be. The only giveaway that this is a phishing scam, is that if I point (but don’t click) at the “click here” link, it shows that it goes to some other unrelated website. I went to the PG&E website and lo and behold, a number of utility companies are having problems right now with scam-statements like this. They never tire of trying to find new ways to get someone when we’re not paying attention…….

I had no real luck getting a lower monthly rate. They did offer me a few free months when I told them to end my service. I decided against it because they wanted a 2 year contract at the regular rack rate after the free months.
We now use tune in radio, which is FREE. I have it free on my computer, phone and tablet and it has all the same orograms as satellite.

He has to cross two rivers. There are some side streets he could use, but he still has to get on freeways to get onto the bridges to cross the rivers. Now they’re saying that seniority has nothing to do with who will go and who will stay. Sucks cause one person volunteered and if they were going by seniority Brad would have been safe. They are using a bunch different things like the drivers work records, driving scores, etc…. Which makes no f’ing sense. So basically brad could be punished for being a good employee. His boss couldn’t even tell him if the better employee will stay or be transferred. I am so stressed. It could be another 45 days before we know. AND it doesn’t even sound like his boss is the one that is making the decision.
He says we’re not moving back to Oregon, but we may still have to move closer to Oregon and be right off the freeway to make the commute less.

I-696 is the east-west corridor through this area. But going eastbound in the afternoon rush hour is bumper-to-bumper for most of it’s length(19 miles). With speeds not going much more than 20mph, I can’t understand why people don’t go 2 miles south and use 8-mile Rd. It’s QUICKER.